The $1.99 Author (expanded edition) by E.A Barker

Author: E.A. Barker

Title: The $1.99 Author (expanded edition)

Genre/Genres: Non-fiction

                                         

Synopsis:

The $1.99 Author offers a pragmatic look at today’s publishing options for both budding and previously published authors. Almost every conceivable publishing path is touched upon with the pros and cons of each laid bare. This book is free of sugar-coated empty promises of success. Instead, readers will be made to understand there is a ladder awaiting them, and The 1.99 Author shows us how to climb it safely without going broke, without getting taken, and without too many heartbreaks.

My twitter handle is @EABarker1, here is a piece I wrote, based on my press release to indie bookstore owners, which dives into some of the Catch 22 issues facing small press publishers and indie authors.

Working Title: Something Smells Fishy In Bookland

As an independent book publisher I work really hard to create great value books that exceed expectations, but there are things I cannot control, like how amazon has ignored, slashed, and burned my suggested retail prices in direct proportion to the retailer discount I offer. It's not just you and the few remaining other brick & mortar bookstores who are waging war with amazon. Indie-authors and small presses that don't play ball by using amazon companies to create books are also targets for their corporate gamesmanship. If the day comes when I find a global distributor who will let me opt out of selling on amazon, as I have with my e-books, I will be the first to sign up; but until then, the only thing which makes any business sense at all is to offer the minimum retail discount allowed by Ingram (30-35%), make my books non-returnable so as to not worsen the environment needlessly or end up broke, and to politely pass on consignment offers which are not associated with a personal appearance. This need not be a deal-breaker as you are an independent retailer who can mark items up or down as you see fit in order to turn a profit. Amazon sells price and convenience. You sell value. Don't let the industry dictate how you do business. They are selfishly motivated.

If I may be so bold as to suggest how bookshops can better support indie-books. . . Buy a few copies to show and sell --- just the quantity required to disperse the shipping costs so a single copy doesn’t end up with a ridiculous price tag --- and do this because you know it's the right book to help some of your customers; rather than acquiring a stack of books on consignment you are not invested in talking about.

It is my firm belief, as a brick & mortar bookstore customer myself, that people who love shopping for books in the real world understand we need to pay a little more for the pleasurable experience awaiting us. It's the price of admission we happily pay for a lovely, often hours-long, "event" available to us almost anytime we wish. The dullest day can be brightened, and visiting a bookshop is one of the few joys, that for most, time will not force us to leave behind. The hurried lives of bargain-hunting online book consumers cause them to miss out on this experience completely. This makes me sad for them, as does this next item: Independent booksellers who do not support independent releases are, perhaps without realizing it, complicit in the marginalization of important voices; in effect, they are censoring indie-books because they don't fall perfectly within the retailer's guidelines for indie releases. Indie-publishers expect this type of thing when dealing with mainstream mass-merchant chain stores, whose media-programmed customers follow every fad, but we hope for something better from independents who cater to, and often attempt to cultivate, more discerning readers in an effort to stave off society's fall into Ray Bradbury's (Fahrenheit 451) dystopian future. It's a huge responsibility, and I can safely speak on behalf of all small presses when I say, we admire and adore those of you who completely comprehend your importance to society. You are the conservators of the free speech idea.

Give us a little space on the bottom shelf of each section. We won't let you down, and your customers will thank you for the variety not offered on the Big Five controlled shelves of the chain-stores you are competing with. Only together can we right the ship. When thirty-two page comic books regularly sell for twenty dollars, maybe it is time the book industry stopped encouraging the undervaluing of our products with many times that page count.

Links:

https://eabarker.wordpress.com/the-1-99-author/